“What?”
The driver got out of the car and opened my door, while the SUV driver and another one of my
uncle’s men climbed out, their guns ready as they dragged Jesse and his men out.
I gasped, panic surging through my body. “What are you going to do?”
“My brother had left a will that doesn’t work in my benefit, not when you’re alive. He’d left you
everything, here and in Russia. EverythingIhave worked so hard for. Sadly, your grandma knows about the will and told everybody about it. Otherwise I could have hid it and made a good use of
you.” My uncle nodded at our driver, who then grabbed my arm and forced me out of the car.
“No! NO!” I screamed, shoving my elbow into his ribs as many times as I could, but he just
grabbed both my arms and pulled me away. Jesse’s yells and threats to make the man leave me pelted
my ears. But the men holding him and the rest of the Wicked Warriors, punched and kicked them
viciously, forcing them on their knees.
“Jesse! Don’t hurt him, you sons of bitches!” I screamed again as the driver brought me to my
knees as well, his gun pointed at my head.
My uncle came out of the car and towered over me. “I’m sorry it had to come to this, but I’m sure
you understand. I can’t simply hand the crown of our empire to a spoiled girl like you who can’t even choose a good man to take care of her and her business.”
I gazed at Jesse’s bloody face, tears blurring my vision. His eyes misted, too as his chest heaved
while he apologized to me, as if this was his fault.
It was all mine. I should have never stayed, and now he was going to pay for my mistake with his
life and the lives of his brothers. Their blood like my professor’s would on my hands. It was a good
thing I was going to die, too. I wouldn’t have been able to live with the guilt.
I dragged my eyes toward my uncle, looking up at him with all the rage and spite and hate I’d ever
felt for my bloody family and its fucking crown. “This man,” I snarled, “you’ll never be half the man he is.”
Quickly, I produced the biggest ball of phlegm I could muster and spat it in my uncle’s face. It
distracted the driver for a second, and I didn’t hesitate. I was the only one with her hands untied, so I grabbed his gun with all my strength and bend his hand, squeezing the trigger without a second thought or care.
There was a slot of swearing in Russian along with huffs and grunts. In my peripheral vision, Jesse
was headbutting one of my uncle’s men, while Viper, Racer and Cottonmouth were charging at the
other. The next heartbeat, my uncle was pulling out his gun and yanking at my hair, cursing.
Gunshots flew in the air. It was hard to concentrate or see where they were coming from when
shooting pain flooded my body up and down. I tried to get up, but the pain was the worst in my leg.
That was when I noticed the blood oozing from my right thigh. Damn. I was fucking shot.
